Sir John William Tyler

Personal profile

約翰·威廉·泰勒爵士

個人檔案輯

Item number: M263-1, M263-2, C132-M263, C133-M263, C134-M263, C135-M263, C136-M263

Year: AD 1840-1913

Provenance: Spink 2024

Sir John William Taylor, C.I.E., a distinguished British-Indian medical officer, attended the Doveton College in Calcutta, India. In AD 1861, he went to the United Kingdom where he obtained licences from the Pharmaceutical Society (L.S.A), the Royal College of Surgeons (M.R.C.S), and the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (R.C.P.E). Subsequently, he earned a Doctor of Medicine degree from St. Andrews University and was appointed to the Medical Services of the North-Western Provinces in AD 1863, serving as a surgeon.

Taylor later served as the Superintendent of the Agra Central Jail from AD 1876, a position he held for 14 years. Under his leadership, the Agra Central Jail became renowned for its high-quality carpet production. Taylor escorted 34 Indians (mostly prisoners) to the Colonial and Indian Exhibition held in London in AD 1886, where their exquisitely woven carpets garnered significant attention.

Following the exhibition, Taylor’s exceptional performance earned him the third-class Indian Empire Medal, and in AD 1888, he was knighted. Queen Victoria, who had long been interested in the Indian territories, was deeply impressed by the exhibition, which further enhanced her appreciation of Indian culture.

On the occasion of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee, Sir John William Taylor, at the Queen’s request, brought two Indian servants as gifts for her. One of them, Abdul Karim, was the son of a hospital assistant from Agra. Over time, Karim developed a peculiar and profound relationship with the Queen, transcending race and class boundaries.

When the Queen first met Abdul Karim, she described him in her diary as “tall with a fine serious countenance.” After the Jubilee celebrations, Karim accompanied the Queen to her summer residence. He prepared curry chicken using spices from Agra, a dish that the Queen greatly enjoyed and eventually included in her regular menu. Subsequently, the Queen expressed a desire to learn more about Indian culture and began studying Urdu (Hindustani) with Karim. Karim was promoted from a servant to a clerk and soon became the Queen’s Munshi, her first Indian personal secretary. As their time together increased, the bond between Karim and the Queen deepened.

Queen Victoria, having been deeply affected by the death of her husband Prince Albert in AD 1861 and having remained in mourning ever since, found solace in her relationship with Karim. The Queen’s diaries are filled with praise for Karim, describing him as “He is so good & gentle & understanding all I want is a real comfort to me”.

Not only did the Queen commission a portrait of Karim, but she also bestowed upon him numerous privileges and honours. She treated Karim’s family with great kindness and maintained frequent correspondence with him, signing her letters as “Your closest friend.” Karim became the Queen’s most intimate confidant. Given that Karim was a gift from Sir John William Taylor, the relationship among the three was inextricably linked. Whenever Karim was on leave, he would stay with Sir John William Taylor, further underscoring Taylor’s crucial role in their relationship.

Despite the Queen’s respect for Karim, his elevated status provoked discontent among other royal family members and courtiers, who deemed it inappropriate for an Indian servant to receive such treatment. The presence of an Indian servant at the royal table offended many, and the relationship was considered a scandal by the royal household. After Karim’s death, his existence was erased from royal history, and all correspondence between him and the Queen was destroyed. It was only a century later, when a journalist visiting the Queen’s summer residence discovered a portrait of Abdul Karim, that this extraordinary story was uncovered through a five-year investigation and published. In AD 2017, this story was even made into a movie named “Victoria & Abdul.”

物件編號: M263-1, M263-2, C132-M263, C133-M263, C134-M263, C135-M263, C136-M263

年代: 公元 1840-1913 年

來源: 斯賓克拍賣行 2024

約翰·威廉·泰勒爵士(Sir John William Tylor, C.I.E.)，一位著名的英印裔醫療官員。他就讀印度加爾各答的多夫頓醫學院。公元1861年，他前往英國並取得了藥劑師協會(L.S.A)，皇家外科學院(M.R.C.S)以及愛丁堡皇家內科醫學院(RCPE)的執照。隨後，在聖安德魯斯大學取得醫學博士學位，並在公元1863年被任命到西北省分的醫療服務機構，成為一名外科醫師。而後，泰勒在公元1876年擔任阿格拉中央監獄的監獄長，擔任該職位長達14年，阿格拉中央監獄在他的領導下成為優質地毯的製造中心，約翰·威廉·泰勒護送34名印度人(其中大部分為囚犯)參加公元1886年於倫敦舉辦的殖民地與印度展覽會，展示了這些工匠編織的精緻地毯。他們的作品引起了廣泛的關注。

經過此次展覽，約翰·威廉·泰勒優異的表現使他獲頒印度帝國三等勳章，並於公元1888年被授予爵士爵位。維多利亞女王長期以來表現出對印度領土的興趣，這次的展覽也讓印度文化在女王心中留下深刻印象。

維多利亞女王登基50周年紀念時，泰勒爵士應維多利亞女王的要求帶了兩名印度僕從作為女王的禮物。其中一名僕人名為阿卜杜勒·卡里姆，來自阿格拉的一名醫院助理之子。他在日後和女王發展出一段奇特而深刻，跨越了種族與階級的親密關係。

第一次和阿卜杜勒·卡里姆見面時，女王在日記中將他形容為「身材高大，面容英俊嚴肅」。登基慶典結束後，卡里姆與女王一同前往避暑別墅。卡里姆用阿格拉的香料為女王烹煮了咖哩雞，這道料理深得女王喜愛，甚至在之後被列入女王的常規膳食菜單中。這之後，女王希望更進一步了解印度文化，開始向卡里姆學習烏爾都語(印度斯坦語)，卡里姆也從一名僕人被任命為文書員，不久後更成為秘書(Munshi)，成為第一位女王的印度私人職員。隨著相處日子的增加，卡里姆和女王之間的情誼也愈加深厚。

女王在公元1861年丈夫阿爾伯特親王逝世後受到極大打擊，陷入長時間的哀悼狀態，且餘生只著黑色衣物。而人們相信女王和卡里姆的這段關係協助填補了維多利亞女王生活的空白。女王在日記中寫滿了對卡里姆的稱讚，並如此描述:「他是如此善良、溫柔、善解人意，這對我來說是一種真正的安慰。」

女王不僅為他留下肖像畫，更授予卡里姆許多特權與榮譽，女王連對卡里姆的家人都善待有加，兩人間經常以信件交流，女王在給卡里姆的信中更署名「你最親密的摯友」。卡里姆可說是女王最親密的心靈知己。由於卡里姆是泰勒爵士帶給維多利亞女王的禮物，三人間的關係密不可分，而當卡里姆休假不在女王身邊時，都和泰勒爵士待在一起，女王和卡里姆的親密關係泰勒爵士更是功不可沒。

儘管女王給予卡里姆足夠的尊重，卻引起了女王家人和其他王室成員的不滿，認為一名僕從身份的印度人不應該獲得這種待遇。和一名王子階級以下的印度人，甚至是僕從一同在餐桌用膳令其他王室成員感到憤怒且無法接受。這段關係也被王室視為一段不光彩的、有失體面的醜聞。因此在卡里姆逝世後，他們將卡里姆的存在從王室歷史中抹滅，並燒毀所有兩人來往的信件。直到百年後，一名記者拜訪維多利亞女王的避暑別墅，發現了阿卜杜勒·卡里姆的肖像畫，展開一連串長達五年的調查，才將這段特別的故事挖掘出來並出版成書。公元2017年，這個故事甚至被拍成了電影《女王與知己》。

更多相關訊息請參考:

https://dbpedia.org/page/John_W._Tyler

https://www.rct.uk/collection/406915/the-munshi-abdul-karim-1863-1909

https://victoriantrail.co.uk/mohammed-abdul-karim/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2299171/pdf/brmedj07283-0054b.pdf

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/09/queen-victoria-and-abdul-real-story

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/victoria-and-abdul-friendship-scandalized-england-180964959/